| Trends |
July 30, 2020
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| Like other people, he had a vague expectation that in the summer, with the hot temperatures and high humidity, the coronavirus pandemic would be calmer; but, it didn't happen. On the contrary, it spread more and more. "Has the virus changed to be stronger?" He wondered. Then he stumble upon this article. When he was searching on the internet for new information about the coronavirus, he happened to find a column titled, "Is It True That The Novel Coronavirus Is Weak In Summer?" The female author was a specialist of biology. He was curious and started to read. The gist of the article was like this: >Previous regular coronaviruses changed their power seasonally: They have a peak in the winter and ceases in summer. Because of this, there was an expectation that the novel corona virus would follow this tendency. >In some experiments of the novel coronavirus by scientists, the more the temperature and humidity rose, the weaker the virus became. Sunlight also weakened the virus. In certain situations of hot, humid, and exposure to ultraviolet rays, the virus halved in a couple of minutes. >On the other hand, another researchers who did research in more than 200 cities in  China and compared the relationship between the numbers of the coronavirus carriers and the temperature, humidity, and exposure ultraviolet rays, they made a conclusion that there was no relationship between them.>It is not easy to compare warm countries to cold countries because there were other factors that can effect and influence the spread of the virus: Life Patterns: Handshaking and hugging for greetings; the way of religious events; large family gatherings or not, etc. Traffic Situations: Frequency of public transportation use and the degree of those methods being crowded. Medical Situation: Facility and ease to go to a hospital, thoroughness of a medical examination, etc. >H1N1influenza's case: It was first rampant in 2009. Its virus DNA structure was similar to regular coronaviruses. Some experiments said that the virus lost its power under hot and humid conditions; but, in cold and dry conditions, the virus kept its power. It fitted the situation that in the northern hemisphere, it was rampant in the winter. But in Japan, the situation was different. The H1N1 virus started to spread in the summer and kept increasing. After the policies of school closings, staying home to decrease close contact with people, it finally ceased. People were relieved. But, it restarted the following year's June and became rampant around August and kept increasing until December. By the end of October in that year, vaccine shots had started. It was reasoned that the virus spread in the summer because only a few people had immunity to it. >In the same way, maybe the novel coronavirus could spread in the summer with a second wave and maybe a third wave. Until a safe and effective vaccine is produced, we need to keep washing our hands thoroughly, keep coughing etiquette, avoiding the "three concentrations" ~crowded places, closed spaces, and closeness between people. The article's date was June 13th. He thought that reality was following the article. He really hoped that a successful vaccine would be found as early as possible, and shots for people who were in need would be ready before the winter came. |
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*stumble upon :偶然出くわす
*biology :生物学
*gist :要旨
*cease :終わる、途絶える
*exposure :露出
*halve :半分になる
*degree :程度
*ease :容易さ
*hemisphere :半球
*reasoned :論理付けられる
*immunity :免疫